Coins of the Arkansas Renaissance Festival!

Greetings and salutations Traveler!

We're honored to be the official coin makers for the Arkansas Renaissance Festival (www.arrenfest.com), which celebrated its inaugural year in 2024 and will be opening up for its second season this August. As the first permanent structure Renaissance festival in Arkansas, they've been working tremendously hard over the last two years to bring the 16th-century European styled village of Dragonstone Springs to life, and we're so pleased to play our part in this wonderful event. We've made a variety of custom items for the faire including a whole suite of realm currency, inaugural coin, and the Archery Champion medallions made out of solid metals, broad struck on antique coin presses here in our workshop in West Fork, AR, with an antique patina so they look authentic and lived-in. When you hold these coins in your hands, we want for these to help establish a sense of place, a unique bond with the tangible aspects of Dragonstone Springs.

 

The Realm Currency, in $1, $5, now retired $10, and $20 coins can be exchanged at the Bank of Dragonstone Springs by the front gate, accepted throughout the realm and can be exchanged back before you leave or kept as a unique souvenir of your time. The $1 made in copper features a beautiful side profile of the Queen Marrianna (whom you can meet and have tea with at the faire!), and on the reverse a sword surrounded by crown symbolizing royal authority and power, with laurel leaves used frequently as a symbol for victory, honor, and glory on coins throughout history.

Top row is mint condition, the bottom is after being patinaed. The patina helps protect the coin from the natural oil from skin contact and highlights the details and depth, giving the coin that authentic used antique look. 

 

For the $5, we knew we wanted a dramatically different shape so it would be easy to tell the coins apart by eye and touch, so to continue the knightly theming we went with a unique planchet shield shape in copper. The face shows 3 knightly ideals of Honor - Courage - Mercy on the outer border surround a proud fully armored knight on rearing steed with a mace in hand, and the reverse shows the shield portion of the Arkansas Renaissance Faire coat of arms.

 

The $10 you may find floating in circulation from the inaugural year is now retired, and is a large solid brass coin which had the namesake Dragon of Dragonstone Springs on the face, and the castle front of the Arkansas Renaissance Festival on the back.

 

This year will be introducing the new hexagonal $20 coin in stainless steel, a great addition to your festival collection. "Somnium Veritas" translates loosely to "Dream come true" and the idea of turning dreams into reality. 

 

A side by side comparison of a different festivals coin vs ours. Even with a properly adhered plating coat, they're generally made as cheaply as possible so the plating will often be thin and may flake or wear off quickly with use and show the filler metal beneath. When exposed to environmental conditions like high humidity, impurities in zinc can cause it to bubble and corrode. To compare - our coins are always made of solid metals throughout.

(Above, a plated coin of unknown make that has been lightly sanded to show the inner zinc core. Below is a cross section of a solid copper and bronze coin from SPM cut in half, showing solid metal the whole way through. 

As makers of fantasy currency from many worlds, we've been told numerous times over the years how fun it would be to be able to use our coins as real currency. If you've ever wanted a chance to spend our coins, the time has come. The realm coins can be used to buy anything your heart desires within the realm of Dragonstone Springs… but it's also a good deal of fun to jangle them around in your pocket like a wealthy merchant on their way to market.

 

 

The inaugural coin was a special limited edition coin (only 162 were available) made to celebrate their first year, made of nickel silver. The iconic joust is immortalized with a fully armored knight with lance on arm astride a charging steed on the face, with the legendary unicorn in gentle repose on the reverse. The art for this coin and several others was designed in-house by Amber Reaves and all were engraved by Woody Maringer of Shire Post Mint. It was a lot of fun researching historic medieval art and coinage for inspiration!

 

The Archery Champion Medallion fittingly can only be earned! Qualifiers run every single day at the qualifying lane next to the joust arena, with the top competitors moving on to shoot in the overall tournament each day. The winners receive a Champion Medallion presented by Queen Marrianna and a free ticket to the last day of festival to compete in the Tournament of Champions for the honor of becoming the Grand Champion. Show the strength of your arms, the accuracy of your eye, and the mental fortitude to become the Archery Champion and take this special medallion home! These are made of solid copper and we hear they make very cool archer bling for one's quiver. 

 

We're so thrilled that so many people reported feeling more immersed in the faire because of the coins, it's truly the best thing for a fantasy coin maker to hear. It was so lovely to meet longtime fans in person and make brand new friends. There are so many dedicated artisans, entertainers, and volunteers who work their tails off in heat and rain and mud to make  magic for guests, you can't help but admire the sheer amount of hard work and effort that goes into making the dream real. Though unfortunately we won't be able to attend in person this year, we hope to return in the future! Till then, you can see and use our work at the Arkansas Renaissance Festival Aug 30-Oct 5, at 275 Adkisson Road, Mount Vernon, AR, 10-6 Saturdays, Sundays, and Labor Day! It's growing day by day, and your support will help the festival grow for future generations to come.

 

 Check out the behind the scenes making of realm currency video here! 

For opening weekend tickets, click here! 

Gallery of our AR Ren Fest 2024 pictures

Tom and Woody Maringer manning the Shire Post Mint Booth at the inaugural 2024 Arkansas Renaissance Festival event. As first time vendors at a Ren Faire, it was very different than a convention and had unique challenges keeping everything period appropriate and with exposure to the weather.

The whole community here was so sweet and supportive, it was a real joy talking to our neighbors and fellow craftspeople. 

 

The Booth Setup - an array of coins, jewelry, and cast objects for sale

 

What is a Ren Faire without Knights? These knights are sometimes full of mayhem, and sometimes like to take long rides through the woods. 

 

An assortment of Viking Raiders and Knights having a discussion about potentially raiding us. Fortunately we survived!

The talented and professionally dangerous Marvelous Marysia of the Circus! Danger! show performing feats of acrobatics with fire in the rain! What dedication! What skill!

 

Love the peaceful morning of setup before the opening cannon fires

 

A parade of young folks following the Queen through the woods

 

Blacksmiths hard at work forging in their smithy

 

Nothing better than a beautiful sunset after the closing cannon before hitting the long dusty trail back home. 

 

Ren faires are wonderful places that allow you a break from the mundane. Getting to immerse yourself in historic fantasy and express your creativity through costuming and role-playing, and the opportunity to learn and enjoy unique and diverse entertainment is a joy. If you've never been before, we would highly recommend giving one a try. 

You might surprise yourself!

 

- Huzzah!